Electric torch for divers



y 1957 J. ALINAT ETAL Y 2,798,940

' ELECTRIC TORCH FOR DIYVEIRS Filed Sept. 9, 1954 28 a r ;i 25 H H 4 I l I 75/] 14 73 r 5 i 1 20 J INVENTORS JEAN ,ALINAT & RENE CHAUVIN ATTORNEY? Unitfifd ates Patent" ELECTRIC TORCH FOR DIVERS Jean Alinat and Ren Chauvin, Toulon, Var, France, as-

signors to La Spirotechniqne, Societe Anonyme, Paris, France Application September 9, 1954, Serial No. 455,036

Claims priority, application France September 10, 1953 4 Claims. (Cl. 240-10.)

The present invention relates to electric torches for divers and has for its object an electric torch designed chiefly for being absolutely tight at all depths of immersion and for allowing an easy control of the cut-off switch for the supply circuit to the lamp.

The torch according to the invention is of the known type comprising a tubular body used as a handle and which contains the power supply batteries for the filament of the electric bulb, this tube being closed at one end by the optical system through which the light beam passes and, at the other end, by a removable or permanent bottom. The absolute tightness to water between surfaces relatively movable in rotation and, in the present case, between the surfaces in contact of the movable elements of the device which make it possible to control the cut-off switch for the lamp from the outside, raises a delicate problem, poorly solved heretofore or solved at the cost of complicated devices which are costly and uncertain in operation.

The invention obviates these difiiculties. It takes ad vantage of toric joints, so-called O-ring joints or the like, which act by a self-tightening effect, which may be placed in position with no important initial clamping and which do not offer, even at high pressures, troublesome passive resistances to the relative motions of the surfaces between which they ensure tightness.

A main object of the invention is to provide a combination, into one assembly, of a water tight projector, comprising, in particular, a light bulb, its means of support, its reflector and its glass pane or optical system and a cut-off device, this assembly being, provided with a tail piece or sleeve by means of which it engages one end of the tube which acts as a box for the cell elements and as a handle for the torch, the tightness being ensured by at least one joint of the O-ring type which makes it possible to rotate said assembly with respect to the tube for controlling the cut-off switch.

As regards its forms of embodiment, the invention is further characterized by the following main features:

(a) The O-ring joint or joints are mounted in grooves of the sleeve, so as to be introduced into the tube or withdrawn from the tube together with the assembly to which the sleeve belongs.

(b) The sleeve is hollow and contains a guide for the socket of the lamp movable axially, said guide being provided with a base, the side surface of which bears resiliently against the inner surface of the tube so as to be immobilized with respect to the latter when the assembly to which the sleeve belongs is rotated, the rela tive angular motion of this assembly and guide being used for controlling the cut-off switch.

The socket of the lamp in which the base of the lamp is secured can slide axially in the sleeve without being able to rotate with respect to it, and it is coupled with the guide by a system of studs and helical ramps, or its equivalent.

(d) A contact element is secured to the guide of the lamp socket but is insulated electrically from said base and in permanent contact with one terminal of the battery of cells, the corresponding pole of the lamp engaging this contact element or moving away therefrom when the assembly to which the sleeve belongs is rotated.

(e) The sleeve is held in the axial direction on the tube of the torch by a spring clip provided with projections which enter a groove in the sleeve through apertures bored in the wall of the tube at points located between the entrance edge of said tube and the O-ring closest to said edge.

- Other advantageous features of the inventon will appear from the following description and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is an axial section of a lamp according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section along the line II-II of Figure l.

The handle or body of the torch is, in the manner commonly adopted, constituted by a tube 1, of metal or any other suitable material, with a thickness designed for withstanding the immersion pressures, but said tube is blind and closed permanently at one end, for instance by means of a brazed or soldered bottom 2 in which the water tightness, therefore, is absolute. This tube contains the usual dry cell battery 3 for this type of lamp, resting on a spring 4 which at the same time ensures the contact between the body of the tube when the latter is made of metal which is the case assumed for the embodiment described. The introduction of the cell elements 3 into the tube is effected by inserting them through its open end.

According to the invention, this open end is then closed by a sleeve 5 which is part of an assembly constituting a lighting projector with its electric lamp or bulb 6 and its associated elements and with a switch controlling the power supply circuit for the lamp. In the example of embodiment shown, the sleeve 5 constitutes an axial tubular extension of a rigid shell 7, made of any suitable material, sealed against water by a glass pane 8 or an optical system. The fastening of the pane 8 ensures at the same time that of a reflector 9; it is ensured by a ring 10 screwed on a screw thread 11 of the shell 7 and the water tightness is easily ensured in a perfectly sure manner by plastic joints 12.

The tightness between the sleeve 5 and the tube 1 for preventing the entrance of water into the latter, is ensured, according to the invention, by at least one joint 13 of the O-ring type, mounted in a groove 14 of the sleeve so as to be held permanently thereon. This joint, which acts by a self tightening efiect, offers, in its application to the invention, the twofold advantage of ensuring an absolute watertightness at all possible depths of immersion and of not offering excessive passive resistances to the rotation of the sleeve 5 in the tube 1. This rotation may thus easily be effected by hand by seizing the ring 10 by its periphery, for instance knurled to this end.

It may be noted that the joint 13 does not prevent the entrance of water between the sleeve and tube in the narrow annular space located upstream with respect to this joint. This offers no drawback since the water cannot flow past the joint 13 for entering inside the tube 1 and the hollow sleeve 5 for reaching the elements of the projector.

The lamp or bulb 6 screws, by its base, in a conducting socket 15 mounted in the sleeve 5 so as to be able to slide axially therein, but with no possibility of rotating with respect to this sleeve. To this end, in the example of embodiment contemplated, the socket 15 is provided with radial fingers 16 which engage corresponding longitudinal slots 17 of the sleeve. These fingers 16 go through helical slots provided in the side wall of a cylindrical guide 18 loosely fitted in the axial bore of the sleeve 5. A relative angular motion of the sleeve and guide 18 thus causes the axial displacement of the socket 15 and lamp 6.

Theguide 18 is provided with means making it possible to immobilize it with respect to the tube '1 and, in the example of embodiment shown, these means act by friction and consist in a base, resiliently deformable or preferably consisting of a washer 19 of rubber or equivalent material armoured with one or more layers of metal gauze. This washer 19 is secured to the guide 18 by its central portion, between a collar 20 of saidrguide and a flange 21 of a part 22 of insulating material forced on the guide 18. This part 22 carries a terminal 23 arranged axially and consisting, for example, of a tubular body in which a small piston 24 slides, urged towards the outside by a spring.

The cell elements 3 being introduced in the tube 1, the whole of the projector with all the elements ,just described is mounted by entering the sleeve in the open end of the tubev Said sleeve is then locked in the axial direction but so as to remain free for rotating. To this end there is provided, in the example shown, a locking clip constituted by pincers made of steel wire 25, each branch of which offers a nose 26 engaging an aperture 27 of the wall of the tube 1 and entering a groove 28 of the sleeve 5. A wrist strap may be attached to these pincers, making it possible to hang the torch from one wrist of the diver. The spring 4 ensures the contact with the body of one terminal of the battery, the other terminal of the battery being held in contact with the terminal 23 insulated from the body. By rotating the sleeve 5 in one or the other direction with respect to the guide 38 held fixedly with respect to the tube 1 due to the adherence of the washer 19 with the latter, the lamp is moved farther away from or closer to the piston 24 for extinguishing or lighting it. The resilient mounting of the piston 24 makes it possible to vary the position of the lamp filament with respect to the focus of the reflector 9, while preserving the contact between the insulated pole of the lamp and the piston for varying at will the angle of aperture of the light beam issuing from the torch.

What we claim is:

1. In an electric torch for divers, a tube closed at one end and open at the other, adapted to contain electric cell elements, a rigid shell with a hollow sleeve adapted to be inserted into the open end of said tube and having a peripheric groove, 21 toric joint mounted in said groove for ensuring the watertightness of the tube inside while allowing said sleeve to rotate relatively and coaxially to said tube, means for holding the sleeve in the axial direction of the tube, a conducting socket for an electric bulb adapted to slide without rotating in said sleeve, a reflector for thelight bulb and an optical system provided in the rigid shell, a tubular guide for the socket interposed-between said socket and sleeve and provided with helical slots, radial fingers provided on the socket and passing through said slots and entering longitudinal slots of the-sleeve, a resilient washer provided at the lower end of the tubular guide adapted to engage the tube for preventing said guide from rotating relative to said tube, and a member fastened to said guide for connecting a pole of the battery formed of the 'electric cell elements with the central pole of the light bulb.

2. In an electric torch for divers, a tubular body open at one end and closed at the other end and adapted to contain electric cell elements, a unit comprising .a light bulb with its supporting means, reflector and optical system, and including aswitch device provided with a washer adapted to engage the inner surface of the tubular body when saidunit is fitted in the openend of said body, a hollow cylindrical sleeve provided in the unit and adapted to be inserted into the open end of the tubular body, means for retaining said sleeve in the axial direction of the latter while allowing the sleeveto rotate in said body, and at least one joint of the O-ring type between said sleeve and body.

3. An electric torch for divers, according to claim 2, in which the O-ring joint or joints are mounted in grooves of the sleeve.

4. In an electric torch for divers according to claim 2, in which the sleeveis heldin the axial direction of the tubular body by a member madeof an elastic wire shaped sov as to have protruding parts adapted to pass through apertures provided in the wall of said body and to enter a groove of the sleeve provided upstream the O-ring joint.

References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,638,039 Jones Aug. 9, 1927 1,859,481 Voorhees May 24, 1932 2,078,028 Schneider Apr. 20, 1937 2,176,084 Lennan Oct. 17, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 489,182 Great Britain July 29, 1938 

